A Tree of Music

Music has always been very important to me, and in a way has been one of the most lasting constants in my life. over the years it has been a source of joy, and sometimes anguish. It has helped me reach out to other people, and it has sometimes been a factor to limit the level of interaction between someone and myself.

Many of the stereo components I use were born in the seventies, and were constructed in the manner of the period. This means most of the components are encased in boxes made of beautiful finished wood, electronic precision engaged in a symbiotic relationship with preserved organic elegance. These days almost all stereo equipment is made completely of plastic and apparently designed to be non-imposing and characterless, meant to be heard but not seen if you will. To compound the complete lack of passion that i think is now associated with the in home music listening experience is the near loss of distinct seperate components to be chosen with care and consideration by the user, and then arranged and enjoyed in a special place. Instead a purchaser buys a single all in one device, often placing ease of connection with a music reproduction source higher in importance than sound reproduction quality.

(all of the clay used in this construction is low-mid fire earthenware, and the slips, glazes, and iron washes are LSU shop recipes)

CONSTRUCTION

1. The first thing i did was layer several plastic wet slabs of clay around a cardboard packing tube and positioned it vertically so that the clay could dry out a little bit and set. I flared out the bottom of the sleeve of slabs and manipulated them such that they would resemble the buttom of a tree where it makes the transition to the roots. I used a cardboard tube so that it would wick moisture from the clay to promote drying, and at the same time not stick to the clay.




2. Next i mounted the leather hard tree trunk on a leather hard rectangle, which would become the top of speaker assembely which sits atop the mock amplifier. Once the tree was mounted on the slab i proceeded to make a box out of thin slabs. This box has a base of the same dimensions as the piece on the bottom of the tree. i then sculpted additional clay onto the sides of the box to act as the continuations of the trees roots downward.




3. At this point I began work on the 2 drawers in the above mentioned box whose front faces would resemble the fronts of speakers. the drawers are constructed basically as 5 sided boxes made of thin slabs fused together by means of a techneque often refered to as scoring and slipping in which wet clay is scratched to make cuts, and then moisture is applied in the form of very wet clay or water. the two surfaces are then pressed together and wiggled for best results. I made mock speaker cones, and horns, and finished them off with an application of sliptrailed green slip dots to resemble the fronts of a pair of speakers I own that i recieved from my father. the bottom sides and back of the drawers were treated with a serier of concentric circles to look like the surface of a phonograph record.




4. i cut off the top of the slap constructed tree trunk and made a cap the size of the opening on top i assured that the cap was the same size and shape as the oputide of the tree and placed a coil on the inside of the underside of the cap, so that it would not shift. in addition i made a cut in the tree trunk, and added clay to the cap in a wedge shape to fit the created void which i sculpted to resemble a crack in the log. this feature has the functionality of acting as a key.




5. with the tree trunk/speaker housing box having been resting under plastic for several days it was now at a uniform leather hard stage, so i could begin to consider the surfaces. i used several things to carve what resembles a wood grain pattern into the trunk of the tree and down the roots, as well as a similar design on the sides of the speakers. i then covered all of the work with plastic loosely so it could all dry.




6. the final component of the assembely was a wider and shorter box with drawers that speaker tree would sit atop. this new part would resemble a tuner/amplifier. the bow was made in much the same way as the previously mentioned boxes, only this time due to the large sizes of the slabs compared to thier thickness i added coils to the inside of every joint to strengthen the connections. the box has a vertical support slab wall inside positioned such that it would act as a load bearing wall when the speakers were stacked. the back of the amplifier was then furnished with holes, to parallel vent holes on a real amp.




7. the drawers were next, constructed in the same maner as the previous drawers, only with added coils for strength. on the front of the smaller left drawer i fashioned a volume knob by sculpting clay around a plactic bottle cap and then attaching. then the drawers were accented with slip trailed lettering and a mock am/fm tuner.




8. once all of these components were once fired to cone 04 i turned my attention to the surface treatements. the main trunk of the tree was treated by using a slip trailer to trail an offwhite crawl glaze into all of the wood grain texture lines, then i brushed the whole tree part with an iron wash with some #6600 mason stain added. 6600 settles out very quickly, making for an inconsistent coloration pattern, which works for an organic surface such as a tree trunk. the walls of the speakers were treated with just an iron wash with no 6600, and the speaker cones and horns were brushed with an Andrew Martin black stain recipe. then all of these components were sprayed with a lowfire clear glaze.




9. the bottom amp box was treater by fitst spraying the top sides and back with a black glaze, and then glaze trailing the crawl in a wood pattern on the sides. then i sprayed the front of the amp drawers with a clear lowfire glaze.




10. at this point i stached the pieces in the fashion shown in the photographs and brushed a white majolica onto the back of each piece connecting the two as speaker wires. with the two stacked i then proceeded to fire the piece with the drawers seperate, but the speakers on top of the amp, so that the two would fuse together with glaze.




11. the outcome of the final piece was actually very successful i think. the construction all held up despite fairly thin fragile components and most of all the glaze and stain applications were a huge success. i think this was undoubtedly due to the careful testing of each glaze compination, and the reproduction of application techniques.